Sunday, December 15, 2013

Strengthening Democracy

The results of the assembly polls held in December, 2013, in four states are as follows:

State/
Party

Total Seats/
Seats Obtained

Majority Seats Required/
Vote Share Obtained

Rajasthan

200

101

BJP

162

45%

Cong

21

33%

Others

16

22%

Delhi

70

36

BJP+

32

33%

AAP

28

30%

Cong

8

25%

Others

2

13%

Chattisgarh

90

46

BJP

49

41%

Cong

39

40%

Others

2

19%

Madhya Pradesh

230

116

BJP

165

45%

Cong

58

36%

Others

7

19%

Two observations:

[1] No party has obtained 51% of the vote share in any state.
[2] In Delhi, no party can form an effective government, given that it is difficult for BJP, AAP, and Cong to form a coalition government [going by statements made as this was written].

It is ideal and desirable that the ruling party has 51% of the vote share in a state and a hung assembly is made impossible.

Two amendments in the law are required to ensure this:

[1] The number of total seats in a state should be an odd number.
[2] If any single party does not have 51% of the vote share and 51% of the seats, then retaining the seats obtained by the top two ranking parties, the rest should be declared vacant, and a re-election should be conducted in respect of those seats, closing nomination for all except the top two parties.